St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-01
THE ELEVATED RAILWAY.

The company recently organized by
capitalists of both st. Paul and Mime
apOliS to provide system of elevated
communication between the two cities
will go before the council committee on
streets Friday evening to seek its ap-
prOval of the scheme proposed, pre-
liminary step necessary before the Ordi-
nance granting the requisite franchise
can be passed.
There are strong reasons why the
cOmpany'S request should meet with
warm and ready acquiescence. The
company does not ask an exclusive
franchise, nor in fact any special con-
ceSSionS beyond the right to build its
line along those streets whose use for
that purpose may be approved by the
council. The proposed system also in
wolves the prohibition of steam as pro-
polling force, the present intention be-
ing to use electricity as motive power.
The elevated tracks are to be con-
Structed on the principle which reduces
obstruction OF the streets to the mini
mum and renders it practically nothing,
the single track of the Riley system be-
ing at present under consideration. In
the matter of fares the proposition made
cannot fail to meet with public ap-
prOval. The ordinance will provide
that the rate of fare shall not exceed
cents for any distance not exceeding
three miles, nor 10 cents for any dis
lance over three miles within the city
limits. nor Is cents for one fare each
way between the two cities, nor % cents
for a round trip between them.
The people of st. Paul and Minneap-
oils now spend $4,000 a month for inter-
urban transportation. The new COM
pany will reduce that sum at once to
$4,000, enabling monthly saving that
will readily be appreciated. And it will
bring about the reduction whether
the elevated road is patron
lied or not, since the surface
railways will of course be obliged to
meet the rates made by the others. 1t
is expected in addition that time of the
transit between the two cities will be re-
dueed to fifteen minutes by the electric
railway. The great need of the Twin
Cities Is more. adequate transportation
facilities, particularly in the suburbs,
and this want the proposed elevated
road will, if not amply, still in great
measure fill.
The objection that is made to the road
in some quarters. to the effect that the
franchise may be secured only to be
sold to some Eastern corporation, can
not stand when it is remembered that
the incorpOrators of the st. Paul &
Minneapolis Rapid Transit company
are among the most prominent and
most Justly esteemed citizens of the two
cities. Such men as MesSrs. HARDEN
BERGH, WILLIS, LINDEKE, HACKETT,
MOORE and their cOnfreres are not III
the franchise brokerage business. Their
scheme is clearly in the direction of the
public good, and does not interfere with
the rights of any existing company.
The most serious objection that has
been urged is that the Elevated Railway
company fails to name the streets it
proposes to occupy with its road. This
ought to be settled in advance of grant
ing the charter. The route should be
definitely stated by the company in its
application for a charter. 1t is asking
too much of the council to shoulder the
responsibility of naming the streets on
which the elevated road is to be run
without having first consulted the prop
erty owners. 1t should be the business
of the Elevated Hallway company itself
to confer with the property owners
along the line of the proposed route,
and when their consent is obtained. or
the consent of a gOOdly majority of
them, then the council will hardly hest
tate to grant the franchise asked for.